Jul 15, 2010

Last week my was my IT Manager’s last day, and upper management had already found a candidate to replace him with a Director. We are getting ready to do a data center move, so the new Director wanted to start right away to get in on the project.

All of us IT guys had a meeting on Tuesday to discuss projects, and the new Director. During the meeting my counterpart, James, said, “We have to do some sort of prank on the new Director!” So we all thought about it for a little bit, and finally decided we should build him an old junkie computer running Windows 98! The other guys were too afraid they would get in trouble with the new Director, so none of the help desk or desktop guys wanted to set up the Windows 98 box, so I decided I would do it. What was the worst thing that could happen?

I began looking on my MSDN for Windows 98, but no luck there so I had to seek the media elsewhere. I wasn’t able to find Windows 98, but I did find Windows 98 SE (Second Edition). I thought that was better because I do work for a Microsoft Gold Partner, so we have to stay cutting edge!

The oldest computer we had lying around the office wasn’t THAT old per se, but it was certainly nothing special. It was an older Dell Latitude D510. Windows 98 SE installed easily, with only a few drivers missing. No big deal, the laptop didn’t have to work, it was just a joke anyway.

Yesterday the Director started, and spent most of the day in orientation. When he finally went to his desk, one of the Help Desk guys took him in there. I missed the whole thing, but the Help Desk guy said that the director didn’t find it very funny. Not funny? WTF?

Well, I spoke with my Director’s boss later that day (He was in on the joke by the way) and he said that the Help Desk guy ruined the joke. When he led the Director to his desk he told him, “Here is your computer… Only kidding! Ha ha ha!” before even letting the director power it on…. Um, yeah! I wouldn’t find the joke funny either if someone ruined it!

Anyway, the joke is a good idea. I don’t want to see it go to waste, so please feel free to do this joke on a boss, or co-worker on their first day. Let me know how they react in the comments!